The Switchbacks are living between two standards.

One is the baseline standard of a competitive club that has been a yearly contender in the USL Championship with playoff berths in every season since 2021.

The other is that of the defending league champs, the club that every other team aspires to be.

As the team that climbed to the USL Championship summit last season, Colorado Springs (9-12-7) has tried to live up to the latter, but following a lopsided 5-0 loss at Charleston Battery on Monday, Saturday’s home regular-season finale is about maintaining both standards.

The Switchbacks host Las Vegas Lights FC at Weidner Field at 6 p.m. on Saturday in the team’s second-to-last game of the regular season. Colorado Springs now sits in ninth place in the league’s Western Conference, one spot outside the playoffs. Every point counts in the mad dash to a fifth-consecutive playoff berth.

“We understand, obviously, the ambitions of the club and the history of the club. So we have a huge responsibility to make sure that this club remains a successful one,” Switchbacks midfielder Charlie Adams said on Friday. “For me, it’s all in our hands. I think this week’s training has been really good. The vibe has been good and we’ve been pushing each other. So it’s only positivity and the pressure that we have is a privilege.”

Colorado Springs hosts Las Vegas less than a week removed from its worst loss of the season. After last week’s contest was postponed due to unplayable conditions, Charleston routed the Switchbacks on Monday. Battery scored three times in the first 25 minutes of play.

“We didn’t do the basics right and we got punished for it. They’re a really good team, very powerful, physically dominant, ball-dominant team. We didn’t do enough. We gave up some silly goals, particularly early in the game which then gives you a really, really tough hill to climb,” Switchbacks coach James Chambers said. “Too easy to play against, that’s not what I want my team to be about.”

On the other side, opponents are giving Colorado Springs their best, Adams said. Even though Las Vegas (6-14-8) is winless in its last six outings and is officially eliminated from the playoffs, the players will still play for pride and to showcase for next season, according to Adams who played for Lights last year. There’s perhaps no better showcase than against the defending champs.

“You’re going to see the best of every single team, every time you play them because even to this day right now, we’re still the champions,” Adams said.

But even though the season hasn’t played out the way Adams, the team, the coaches and the fans may have expected, there are still two opportunities for the Switchbacks to showcase their talent.

“Never, ever count us out. We’ll see where we are at the end of it,” he said.

Switchbacks midfielder Marco Micaletto leads the club in goals with six. Midfielders Yosuke Hanya, Steven Echevarria and forward Jonas Fjeldberg lead the Switchbacks in assists with three apiece.

For the Lights, defender Gennaro Nigro leads in assists with seven and forward Johnny Rodriguez paces the club in goals with nine.